This invention relates in general to a monitoring and controlling system and, more particularly, to a monitoring and controlling system having connectorless quick change components.
Monitoring and controlling systems are used in virtually every area of industry to provide feedback regarding the operation of mechanical and electromechanical equipment. In many of these applications, the working environments are very harsh and may require the monitoring and controlling systems to function within extreme heat or extreme humidity. In other applications the monitoring and controlling systems are continuously exposed to a wide variety of damaging contaminants. In such situations, the robustness of the monitoring and controlling system can be problematic because the electrical and electronic devices needed to provide proper monitoring capability are easily compromised by the various damaging attributes of such hostile environments.
This is particularly true regarding the connectors and cable assemblies normally needed to create a monitoring and controlling system capable of providing relevant information regarding the operating characteristics of a monitored component. Present monitoring and controlling systems normally use such connectors and cable assemblies to connect the sensors within the monitored component to the monitoring network. When indicated by the monitoring and controlling system, the monitored component must eventually be serviced or replaced and during this maintenance, the connectors and cable assemblies in current systems must be disconnected and reconnected. When such connectors and cables are disconnected and reconnected within hostile working environments, contaminants can enter the connectors and cables, thereby damaging the connectors and electrical connections. Once damaged, these components either cease to provide consistent reliable data links to a monitoring and controlling system""s sensors, or totally fail to provide any required data at all.
A primary example of the use of a monitoring and controlling system in a harsh operating environment is the mill rolling machine used in steel mills. Mill rolls, which are used to roll steel and other metals into various shapes, as well as into sheets, operate in extremely harsh environments. Not only do these rolls sustain severe impacts, but they are further subjected to dirt and grease, and some even to water sprays. Roll neck bearings which support mill rolls in the housings of a millstand operate in the same environment. Owing to the harsh environments in which they operate, roll neck bearings fail from time to time, and sometimes the failures have catastrophic results.
Because rolls are exchanged at least daily to maintain product quality, the extensive effort expended in making these exchanges makes it desirable for the bearings, including the monitoring and controlling systems, to be self contained units. Because monitoring and controlling systems for mill roll bearings are susceptible to damage in the harsh rolling mill environment, mill roll bearing monitoring and controlling systems are not extensively used and costly maintenance procedures are often performed more frequently than necessary, simply as a precautionary measure to avoid severely damaging millstands.
The present invention resides in a monitoring and controlling system which incorporates connectorless quick change components to prevent degradation of the monitoring and controlling system caused by damage to electrical connectors and cables assemblies during replacement and maintenance of the monitored component. Monitoring sensors, controlling devices, and electronic transceiver devices are integrated onto the monitored component and are used to communicate data to a monitoring network regarding various operating characteristics of the monitored component. The integrated sensors, controlling devices, and transceivers obtain their operating power from a connectorless energy transfer system and the transceiver communicates its monitoring data to another closely situated transceiver by means of coupled capacitance plates within each of the transceivers.
The present invention also resides in millstand embodiments of the above invention, including a chock, a mill roll having a roll neck that is received in the chock, an antifriction bearing located between the chock and the roll neck, and a monitoring and controlling system to monitor operational characteristics of the antifriction bearing. The chock contains a sensor and/or controllers that detect control operating conditions of the antifriction bearing. The monitoring and controlling system includes a transceiver mounted in the antifriction bearing chock to which at least one sensor is connected, another transceiver mounted in the millstand which communicates with the chock transceiver, and a monitoring network which receives the signals from the millstand transceiver after those signals have been transmitted to the millstand transceiver by the chock transceiver. Where the configuration of the millstand prevents the near field coupling of the chock transceiver and the millstand transceiver, a pass through enclosure is positioned between the two transceivers to allow for transference of power and communications between the transceivers.
The chock transceiver is mounted in a window of the chock and produces a radio signal which reflects the operating conditions detected by the sensors. The millstand transceiver is mounted within a window in the millstand and receives the radio signal generated by the chock transceiver. Data communication takes place by means of radio frequency communication between coupled capacitance plates within the chock transceiver and the millstand transceiver. The energy needed to operate the chock transceiver is supplied to the chock transceiver from the millstand transceiver by means of a connectorless energy transfer system using induction to transfer electrical energy. Where the millstand transceiver cannot be positioned near the chock transceiver, a pass through enclosure containing ferrite cores and capacitor plates is placed between the transceivers to relay communications and power between the transceivers.
Because data communications occur through use of radio frequency communications, there are no electrical connectors or electrical cables which interconnect the two transceivers for communication purposes. Also, because electrical energy is provided to the chock transceiver by induction, there are no electrical connectors or electrical cables which interconnect the transceivers for power purposes, and there is no potential for unexpected shutdown due to the use of limited life batteries. Therefore, the present invention uses no electrical interconnection devices between the monitored component and the monitoring and controlling system which would be subject to damage from the harsh operating environment of the steel rolling mill.